See For Yourself

Creek that joins the Columbia River

See For Yourself…

Have you ever played the game “Telephone”?    In it, everyone sits in a big circle.    Then someone writes down a message and whispers that message to the person sitting next to them.    Each person in the circle takes their turn whispering that message, exactly as they heard it,  to the person next to them.    Then the last person proclaims the message out loud.

What a surprise as it is compared with the original written message!    No one can figure out how the message became so changed.    Everyone “claims” to have repeated it exactly as heard.    And so gossip (hearsay) goes…

It is possible for even God’s word to be radically changed, IF people today don’t go straight to the source (the Bible) and find out for themselves what was originally said.    That is why we see so many cults today — people don’t check things out for themselves.

What good is hearsay?    We each need to read and learn first-hand about God’s faithfulness,  love,  salvation,  forgiveness,  and patience with each and every one of us.    Don’t leave all the work of reading,  studying,  and searching up to someone else.    They might be all messed up.    They might just be on an ego trip.

It is our personal responsibility to purposely look through the Bible for evidence of God’s love for each of us,  (personally – really personally)  realizing that the books in the Bible were written hundreds and even thousands of years apart,  by many different prophets.    But, no matter when written, they all agree with all the other books in the Bible  and with other archeological records.

Even better than that,  the Bible shows how God made a promise of salvation in the very beginning  (in the Garden of Eden)  and then the Bible shows every important step God took throughout history to keep that promise of salvation,  word for word,  in the birth,  life,  suffering,  death,  and resurrection of Jesus Christ.    There simply is nothing more marvelous!    And it is pure truth right down through the ages for you and for me.

Do you really know just how deeply God loves you — even though other people may not see you as particularly lovable?    You’ve got to find out for sure.

If you only believe what someone else has said about God’s love for you,  your faith will be weak.    You might be tempted to think,  “Well, what do they know.    They don’t know ‘my’ sins.    They don’t even know ‘my’ doubts and fears  or the horrendously rough times I’ve had.    It’s easy for God to love ‘them’;  BUT ‘me’?……. That doesn’t seem possible.“

So, not reading the Bible will cause even you to be a weak Christian — exactly the way Satan wants to keep you in his realm of doubts and fears.

Find out for yourself the strength,  power  and love of God over thousands of years.    Delve into the Bible like a defense lawyer — searching,  digging out details,  comparing verse to verse,  even though they were written thousands of years apart.    Prove it for yourself.    Then, erase your wonderings.

You will see that Psalm 119:89,  “Forever,  O LORD,  Thy word is settled in heaven,” is true.

Then you will see the awesome wonders and truths of Isaiah 40:8 for your own personal life — “The grass withers,  the flower fades,  but, the word of our God stands forever.”

It’s like that computer learning ad we have seen on TV.    The mother says,  “My daughter knows a lot more about computers than me – and she’s only three.” …….”I learned a lot about computers and I had a lot of fun.”

We can also have a lot of fun learning to use all sorts of Bible study aids — like Strong’s Concordance,  which is a language dictionary for the Bible.    It gives the definitions of the Bible’s Greek and Hebrew words that have been translated into English for us.    That will give us greater depth into what the Hebrew and Greek writers were saying when they wrote the Bible.

There are a number of Bible study web sites on which one can use Strong’s Concordance for free.    One good site you can use is at Crosswalk.     Another good site is Blue Letter Bible.    Or, if you prefer, you can get your own hard copy for around $20 at most Bible book stores.

Then, at your leisure,  you can search out the beauties of God’s word for yourself.

What a comfort we can find in the Bible,  as our heavenly Father speaks straight to us.    2 Timothy 3:16-17  says,

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching,  for reproof,  for correction,  for training in righteousness,  that the man of God may be adequate,  equipped for every good work.”

It’s God talking directly to us,  training us.    Listen.    Don’t let anyone else take you off course.

Love,   Margaret